Americans: Cheap or Charitable?

ABC News just ran a very interesting news broadcast called "Are Americans Cheap? Or Charitable?" There was extended discussion with Arthur Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University. Brooks struck me as a very reasonable man. He has just published a book called Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism. Some of the findings:

1. Working poor conservatives, on a percentage basis, give more than the average middle class American and far more than those of liberal persuasion (who are more likely to think it's the government's job to redistribute wealth).

2. The most likely indicator of a person's generosity is the degree to which they are religious.

3. No other country comes close to the private giving by Americans on a whole. The fact that most of America's charitable gifts come from volunteers, not government, demonstrates that Americans are different from people in every other country.

"The fact is that Americans give more than the citizens of any other country. … They also volunteer more," Brooks said. "Americans per capita individually give about three and a half times more money per year, than the French per capita. … Seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians."

You can read about ABC's investigation here.

(HT: Jacob)